


Lavellan at Skyhold

by perseajackson



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-12
Updated: 2015-03-12
Packaged: 2018-03-17 12:06:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3528794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perseajackson/pseuds/perseajackson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Casual adventures of Lenali Lavellan at Skyhold, focuses with her relationship with Cullen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

My name is Lenali Lavellan, and I am twenty-two years old.  
Lenali stared at herself in the mirror above her dresser. As the leader of the inquisition, she often had to focus and remember who she was. It was so easy to lose herself in the title, the responsibilities.  
I am from the Lavellan clan; I am from the Free Marches.   
She actually quite enjoyed being inquisitor, despite the hardships and the danger. Growing up with her small family, she had always dreamed of adventuring in the rest of the Free Marches where her clan had never been. She’d gotten in much trouble for her adventurous nature and her outgoing personality. When she was honest with herself, Lenali had secretly always feared that she would never get to see anything outside of where her clan travelled. She would be in line for the keeper since she was one of three young mages in their clan. Her family was too anciently tied within the Lavellan clan for her to be cast out, and she always felt bad for that because she was friends with the other mages and never wanted to see them be forced out because she had a safe spot in the clan. She knew the mages who would be chosen to stay would be based on power and potential, and that’s why she had worked so hard to be the best and earn her place as their Keeper’s First. Being First was nothing as she expected, though, and she was even more reigned in than ever. When Keeper Istimaethoriel asked her to go spy on the Conclave, Lenali agreed happily.   
As much stress as the Anchor had brought her, she was secretly glad that she had it. Being Inquisitor, traveling Thedas, fighting monsters and evil people… It was all she had ever dreamed of doing and more. People often asked her how she did it all, handle being the Herald and Inquisitor, saving people, fighting evil things- how did she manage to do it all? The truth was, she had absolutely no idea, but she loved it. She loved everything about being Inquisitor. Okay, maybe not everything. She hated that the responsibility of saving the fate of all of Thedas was on her shoulders, and she hated that she would have to fight and defeat Corypheus. Aside from those little details, however, it was great.  
And yet, she missed her clan sometimes. She missed quiet days of exploring the woods with her old friend Alador. She missed listening to the lore of her clan over and over, the stories that never got old. She missed her family, and she knew she would try to go back and visit them once this was all over. She couldn’t stay, not after all she had been through, but she would visit for a while.  
Her thoughts were interrupted when a series of knocks sounded from the door of her quarters.  
“Yes?” she called out, turning and fixing her posture for her guest.  
The door opened tentatively to reveal Cullen peeking through. “Cullen,” she said quietly, offering him a warm smile.  
He returned it and opened the door more, leaning against the doorframe. “Inquisitor,” he greeted.  
“Always so formal,” she teased, making her way over to him.  
“Well of course,” he agreed. “I do have news, though. A new Warden has arrived, and he has requested to meet you. He says he is Dalish and knows the Hero of Ferelden. He would like to assist in contacting her with Leliana’s spies, and then he would like to join the Inquisition.”  
“A Dalish warden?” Lenali asked, surprise clear in her voice.  
“I admit, I was quite taken aback as well,” Cullen said. “He is waiting in the Courtyard near the tavern. I fear Cassandra may begin grilling him first, so you may want to make haste down there.”  
Lenali nodded, reaching up to fix her loosened bun. “Lead the way, Commander,” she said, gesturing at the door, her tone quietly teasing again.  
~~~  
A young man indeed stood near the tavern and indeed being talked to by Cassandra. As they approached, Lenali overheard a few words of their conversation.  
“...Such a young man into the Wardens?” Cassandra was asking.  
“A warden recruiter was visiting my clan and saw potential in me,” the boy was saying. “I didn’t mind leaving my clan- it was very exciting, actually. Do they never allow young people to become Seekers, Lady Pentaghast?”  
“Do not call me that,” Cassandra said, shifting her eyes at him. “And becoming a Seeker is a much more involved process than becoming a Warden. So no.”  
It was then that Lenali and Cullen’s presence was realized.  
“By the gods, you’re her!” the boy said once he saw her. “The Herald- or, Inquisitor now, is it? Your Worship,” he said with a grin, dipping his head to her in respect, covering his chest with one arm in salute.  
Lenali gave him a polite smile. “Thank you,” she said respectfully, holding out her hand to him. “My name is Lenali.”  
He took her hand in both of his, now grinning probably as much as one boy could handle at her and shook her hand quite a bit more than she expected. “Warden Soren, my lady, at your service,” he said. She noticed his eyes scanning her features as if he really couldn’t believe he was actually seeing her in person.  
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Serah,” she said with a small laugh, placing her left hand on his to calm him down.   
He quickly withdrew his hands and held them in front of himself. “My apologies, ser, I just- wow, I cannot believe I’m meeting you!” he exclaimed. “The gods truly smile upon me today!”  
Lenali couldn’t help but continue to smile at his optimistic nature. “Ah, Commander Rutherford said you had information on the Hero of Ferelden?”   
“Yes! She is an old friend, actually. We are from the same clan,” he explained, adjusting the bow slung across his back.  
“Two elven Grey Wardens from the same clan? How unusual,” Cassandra commented skeptically.  
“Yes, and we are very proud of it!” Soren said. “Cara was recruited by Ser Duncan as the blight began, and I was not recruited until after the blight.”  
“Cara came from the Ferelden Circle, though,” Cullen pointed out.  
“Well she had to come from somewhere before that, yes? She didn’t hatch from an egg,” Soren said, his smile never fading from his lips. “We were friends when we were young, before her magic began showing and she had to leave our clan.”  
“Regardless, we welcome your help, Soren,” Lenali said, bringing the attention back to the problems at hand. “Let us go discuss your place in the inquisition in private. I’ll introduce you to our spymaster.”   
“Yes! I would like that very much,” Soren agreed, following her back into the main hall of the castle.  
“That is the most friendly, upbeat Warden I have ever seen,” Cassandra said to Cullen as they watched the elves leave.  
“I’d say that’s the most friendly and upbeat person I’ve ever met,” he added, raising an eyebrow at his fellow advisor.


	2. Quiet time with Cullen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just lenali and cullen chiillen. 2 cute 2 handle.

“Does it feel odd?”  
“Does what feel odd?”  
“Without all your armour on- does it feel odd?”  
Commander Cullen Rutherford breathed a small laugh and placed a head upon his chest which wore only an undershirt and a cotton sweater on top. “I admit, it does feel a bit strange.”  
“You know, when I first met you, during those first few months in Haven,” Lenali clarified, swaying a bit and nudging his shoulder with her own. “I just assumed you slept in your armour.”  
Cullen laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. “If you would believe it, I have fallen asleep in it before,” he told her, giving her a small grin. “Not intentionally, of course, but during quiet times in Kirkwall in the barracks, it may have happened a few times.”  
“Ah, I see,” she said, nodding. They on the edge of the balcony outside her quarters with their legs dangling between the spaces in the railing posts. She looked out over the snowy mountains far below them. “It was quite amusing to discover that underneath all your bulky, intimidating armour is a man with a respectably intimidating and built body.”  
Cullen’s cheeks flushed and he cleared his throat. “Ah, um- thank you,” he stammered out. Lenali laughed quietly and pecked a kiss to his cheek. “I must say you, ah, have quite- quite a nice body yourself.”  
Lenali tried so hard not to let her amusement get the best of her. “Why thank you, Commander,” she said politely, which only made his blush worsen.   
“You just enjoy doing this to me, don’t you?” he asked, turning his head to look at her and giving her a pleading look.  
“Oh, of course I do,” she said with a grin. “How could I not? Your reactions are so adorable.”  
Cullen scoffed and shook his head. “What am I to do with you?” he mumbled to himself.  
“You could start with this.” Lenali took his cheek and pressed her lips to his. She felt his lips smile against hers before he kissed her back.  
Time passed indefinitely between them, and neither of them minded.


	3. Sleep Talking Warrior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cullen talks in his sleep? Oh, that is just /adorable/.

Mages who talked in their sleep were usually having conversations with spirits in the fade. It wasn’t an uncommon thing. If you listened for long enough and the mage talked enough, you could piece together what kind of conversation they were having and what kind of spirit they were conversing with. She had heard stories of how sometimes, listening to the mage’s sleeping words even saved them from being possessed by demons.  
However, whenever Lenali laid awake in her bed in the early morning next to her warrior lover, she couldn’t help but be amused and listen to his words for fun. She first noticed Cullen’s sleep talking one night when she awoke from a particularly disturbing nightmare. She’d woken up in a rush, and she’d felt his arm tighten around her waist. At first, when he mumbled, Lenali thought she’d woken him up as well and that he was murmuring to her- that is until she looked over at him to find him fast asleep. She listened to his words to find that he was muttering about losing at cards and a swimming pool of ale. Her initial distress from her dream immediately dissipated and was replaced with amusement. She began giggling so much that she actually did wake him up. She didn’t tell him until the next morning that he talked in his sleep, to which he denied he did and then proceeded to change the subject.  
Lenali was an early riser as it was, and listening to Cullen mumble silly things in his sleep only made getting up at the break of dawn that much more enjoyable. He woke up not too long after she did, at which he usually caught her eavesdropping and scolded her as he blushed.  
“I can’t help it,” she protested one morning. “It’s just so.. adorable.”  
“Oh, Maker help me,” Cullen grumbled, pulling his pillow over his head.  
Lenali laughed and moved closer, putting her arm across his chest. “In fact,” she began. “Just the other morning, you actually had a conversation with me about… Oh, what was it?”  
“Please nothing too horrifying-”  
“Ah yes! You were telling me about how you were going to go garden a plot of elfroot with only half your armour on, because what if the nugs attack again?” she said dramatically, laughter following Cullen’s further attempt to smother himself.  
“Tell Cassandra I wish her luck finding my replacement and let no one know the reason of my self-suffocation,” he said, his voice muffled through the pillow.  
“Oh, come on, you drama queen!” Lenali said with another laugh. She pulled the pillow away and smiled down at him.  
“You don’t tell anyone else of my… sleep talking, do you?” he asked cautiously.  
“Of course not,” Lenali said confidently.   
“Thank yo-”  
“Except I’ve told Cassandra about a few instances..,” she said, as if suddenly remembering.   
“Lenali! Please say you haven’t told Varric about anything-”  
“And that one story I told Varric…”  
“Oh, Maker..,” Cullen groaned miserably.  
“I’m just teasing!” she assured him.. “I haven’t talked to anyone about it… Except Leliana, but you know she won’t tell. I asked her not to, as an extra precaution.”   
“Oh, only Leliana,” he said giving her a weak smirk.  
“Mhmm. I only even told her a few things. I keep the most amusing conversations to myself,” she said with a grin before leaning her head down to kiss him.   
“I really must figure out how to stop talking in my sleep,” he commented after she pulled away.  
“Well, good luck with that,” Lenali said. “In the mean time, I will enjoy listening to you mutter silly things in your sleep.”   
Cullen sighed, but he couldn’t help but smile at her. “Just don’t use it too much against me.”  
“Oh, I’m not sure I can promise that.” They kissed again, dwelling in the carefree moment the morning brought them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i actually discovered today that it's canon that commander rutherford talks in his sleep c;;;;;

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading my darling friends!!


End file.
